Paedophile jailed after horrific sexual assault of six-year-old girl who fled screaming 'I've been kidnapped'
A paedophile has been jailed after grabbing a six-year-old in a park and sexually assaulting her
Greater Manchester Police
A paedophile has been jailed after grabbing a six-year-old in a park and sexually assaulting her in a horrific attack last summer.
Lewis Jones has been locked up for a number of horror crimes and will spend a minimum non-parole period of 12 years in prison.
Manchester Crown Court heard how in August last year Jones had been sat on a park bench in Greater Manchester, taking photos of young girls playing nearby.
The 24-year-old then approached a young girl as he offered to help make a den, before picking her up while covering her mouth with his hand and running off.
The court heard how Jones had been sat on a park bench in Greater Manchester taking photos of young girls playing nearby
PA
An 11-year-old girl saw Jones kidnap the youngster and told the other children to run for help.
The court heard how an urgent search was launched after she shouted for police to be called and the girl's mother was told: "Mammy - somebody's taken her!"
While family and neighbours hunted for the girl, Jones stuck his fingers in her mouth, knocking out a tooth, and choked her.
He carried her into the woodlands and told the schoolgirl if she made a noise, she was not going home, the court was told.
The monster then sexually assaulted the young girl before taking indecent images of her.
Covered in blood and bruises, the girl was heard screaming: "Help me, I've been kidnapped" 25 minutes later.
Following the attack, Jones fled the scene along a canal towpath, but handed himself in the next day after police issued a CCTV image of the suspect.
In a statement to the court, the girl's mother said her daughter's behaviour has seen a "significant" deterioration with chronic separation anxiety.
The mum added: "The heartache I feel is immense. I feel very angry that he has done this to us. I feel disgusted and rage almost daily."
Jones had been previously arrested by Merseyside Police after grooming and sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl he met through Snapchat in 2020.
Jones had been previously arrested after grooming and sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl he met through Snapchat in 2020
PA
He was still under investigation when he launched the horror attack on the six-year-old girl.
He had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual activity with a child and assault by penetration relating to a girl aged 12 and 13, and making indecent images of children, between January and June 2020.
Jones also admitted sexually assaulting the six-year-old in August last year.
Passing sentence, Judge Manley said delays by officers in charging and prosecuting offenders before they commit further offences is "an extremely troubling state of affairs" and this case was an "egregious example".
She said: "The net result is, in this case, this defendant, if he had been charged when he should have been, would not have been at liberty to abduct this six-year-old girl.
"That's the cold facts of the case."